An unconfirmed rumor on Startup Grind states between 500 and 1000 layoffs will hit Electronic Arts as soon as this week. They have a list of factors leading to this, including general business downturns, and specific recent aspects of this like disappointing sales of Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic, and the expensive incremental marketing campaigns attempting to boost both games after launch. There's a follow-up to this on Develop denying this. "There are no lay-offs as such, we always have projects growing and morphing," reads a statement they received from EA, which also adds: "at any given time there are new people coming in and others leaving," but that the company "is growing and hiring, building teams to support the growing demand for digital games and services."

Tim Collins wrote on Apr 16, 2012, 14:37:The new star wars patch is a complete disaster, its so bad they gave everybody a free month.

Yep. They have a strange way of patching and communicating changes. I haven't played since January and just hopped on real quick to check what 1.2 was like last week only to find all of my skill points refunded for a respec. WTF?!? How about a little notification about why this was deemed necessary? Maybe give a quick outline of any underlying class changes in the notice so I know what this is all about. Or am I supposed to dig up the info on their forums (that are down for "maintenance" every time a shitstorm brews on the horizon)? Fuck off. I'm not digging up anything. You fuck with my build, you explain why.

What a bunch of hacks and amateurs...

You mean like in the extensive list of patch change notes that were listed clearly in the launcher when you were downloading and installing the patch? It mentioned that several classes had their points refunded, and mentioned in each specific class change notes which ones were refunded along with all of the talent changes themselves. But hey, don't let the facts get in the way of your ranting.